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3/4" plywood
Epoxy
Super Glue
When the coils come off the winding machine, they are
fairly loose, and delicate. I handled them carefully before
gluing them into the stator laminates.
In the above image you can see all the parts of the
alternator ready for finishing and assembly.
For the first step in attaching the coils (not shown in any
pictures) I measured out their proper location (they must be
spaced evenly) and lightly tacked them in with super glue.
Then I generously coated them with super glue (epoxy
would also work fine...it would just take longer), covered
them with wax paper, and clamped them in using a form I
cut from wood. This form forces them into exactly the right
diameter to fit around the armature. Once the glue was dry,
I removed the clamp, the wooden form and the wax paper,
and was pleased to find they fit very well! In the future, I
may fill the center of these coils with a mixture of magnetite
sand and epoxy - this would help conduct the magnetic field
through the coils, and increase the current output of the
finished alternator. For now, I'm very curious to find out how
it perfoms with nothing but air between the coils. There is
also an advantage to "air cores" inside the coils--the
alternator will not cog at all until under a load, which
eliminates much vibration and will help the alternator start
spinning in some applications. Cogging is a problem in
permanant magnet alternators, especially for wind
generators.
After the coils are glued in, all that remains is sanding and
finishing. Thankfully I had some help from our head of
research, development, and particle physics....Maya!
All the parts were generously coated with fiberglass resin -
kind of like epoxy, it makes a thick, plastic coat and should
make the alternator practically waterproof for years to
come. The only drawback...it stinks real bad! You can get
this stuff at any hardware or auto parts store. Difficult to see
in this picture, but...the base of the alternator has wooden
dowels in it, so that all the parts can be exactly located in
their proper position whenever the unit is assembled. This
allows for easy assembly and disassembly. When making
the base, I put the parts together so that it spun easily--the
coils were as close as possible to the magnets, and nothing
rubbed. Then, I tacked the whole alternator together lightly
with super glue and drilled 1/4" holes up from the bottom of
the base into the pillow blocks, and both stator halves. I
then glued into the base 1/4" dowel pins which assure that
whenever assembled, all the parts will fit exactly into the
right places.
After the fiberglass resin set up, I assembled everything on
the base. Everything fit well--the clearance between coils
and magnets was excellent. Once all looked good, I
screwed it together from the bottom with 3" deck screws. It
seems very sturdy--nothing moves, rubs or vibrates that's
not supposed to! At this point I wired all the coils on each
stator half into series. The coils must alternate in the
direction they are wound. It can seem confusing! Trial and
error isn't the worst way to be sure it's properly wired.
Simply spin it slowly by hand, and start measuring voltage,
starting with one coil, and being certain that the voltage
increases with each additional coil which is wired in series.
All the coils on each half of the stator are wired together in
series. At that point, each half can be hooked in either
series or parallel to most appropriately match the load with
the alternator. Above is pictured the good old Taste Test, a
sure fire way to test any battery, or generator, as long as it
stays below about 10 volts! (otherwise it hurts--don't try this
at home!)
I don't have proper equipment to fully test this alternator.
The best tool I have, since it will not fit on my lathe, is a
hand drill with a 1/2" chuck. With a meter which reads
frequency, I am able to accurately tell rpm. When both
halves of the stator are hooked in series, the alternator will
reach 12 volts at approximately 120 rpm. At approx 300
rpm, it charges approx 6 amps into my batteries (this is the
limit of my hand drill!). When I hook both halves of the stator
in parallel, it hits 12 volts at approx 240 rpm, and at approx
350 rpm it's charging slightly over 10 amps into my 12 volt
batteries. In the picture above you can see the frequency
meter, and the large wooden ammeter on the wall. Clearly
the limiting factor here is the power of the hand drill. I'll post
a chart when I build a good alternator test machine and get
some better results! All things considered here, I'm very
pleased with the results.
I was curious what the output would look like on the scope,
considering the close proximity to one another of the
magnets, and the "lumpy" armature. Keep in mind, what is
shown above on the scope, is Alternating Current, directly
out of the alternator. In order to be useful in batterycharging,
it must be rectified into Direct Current. To do this a "bridge
rectifier" (a simple arrangment of 6 diodes) must be used.
Shown above is the "rectified" output of the alternator. This
is useful for battery charging, but - you'll notice how "lumpy"
the Direct Current looks on the scope. Although this rarely
causes problems, occasionally this sort of Direct Current
will cause problems with radio and television reception
(you'll hear a whine). To help smooth out the Direct Current
available here, a capacitor can be used.